Chinese President Xi Jinping is not expected to attend the G20 summit in India next week and will send Premier Li Keqiang in his place, a senior European Union official said on Thursday.
“My last information… was that Xi did not intend to travel, he would be prime minister,” the official told reporters in Brussels ahead of the September 9-10 summit in New Delhi.
Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rare face-to-face talks last week at the BRICS grouping summit in South Africa, but tensions remain high between the Asian giants.
Also read: India lodges strong protest with China over map showing ‘India’s territory’
On Tuesday, India issued a “strong protest” to China after an official map published by Beijing appeared to claim a large swath of land in the Himalayas, over which Delhi claims sovereignty.
European officials hope the G20 summit in New Delhi will be an opportunity to push powers such as India and China to agree tougher criticism of fellow BRICS member Russia in the wake of Moscow’s aggression on Ukraine.
